Julie’s Raw Ambition

…Dandelion Communitea in all its green glory. Cute tiki.

I’ve loved the Dandelion since it first opened sometime in 2006. It has grown to be quite popular, progressively evolving into the “communitea”. George and I stopped in yesterday for a bite, and the first thing we noticed is that they added more tables since the last time we’d been - a very good sign, cause this place is cool AND the food rocks.

Welcome.

Behind that door is an encompassment of “vegan and celeriac-friendly”, “Co-op America approved”, locally grown, organic, tea sippin’, green drink chuggin’, chillin’ with your BFF’s, live music performin’, poetry readin’, and bohemian-hippie chic buzz with a mellow vibe.

The great little wall of teas.

When you first step through the door into the petite foyer, you’re met with this impressive selection of organic teas (Teavana, eat your heart out!), elixirs, and all-natural vegan toiletries. Look to the right and see the shabby-chic armoire filled with hand-made jewelry from local artists. Lovely.

Something for everyone.

Then you come to a counter where there sits the cash register and all sorts of pretty vegan pastries. It is at this counter where orders were once placed before finding your table or sofa and then waiting for your vittles to arrive. No more. The Dandelion has transistioned to 100% table service. Splendid!

From my seat in the main social room.

So on you go into the cozy main dining room, which was once a kind of living/dining area because of the big sofa and coffee table that used to sit in the middle of the room. I like to think of it, as well as the other separate smaller gathering areas in the rear of the house, as social rooms. You can eat, meet, chill, chat, surf (note the dude on right of the pic above), whatever, until they kick you out. I dig the circus big top-like fabric on the ceiling in the main room cinched by the center light fixture.

Weeeeee!

Now lets get on to the food, which is mostly vegan, mostly raw, and scrumptiously fresh. The menu is a/k/a “The Dandylicious Menu”, and is modest in quantity but abundant in wholesomeness and yumminess! The salad selections have two formats: “roll it or bowl it” - fantastic in either although I do prefer bowled. On this day I had a taco craving, and was already set to have “The Giddyup” ($8.50), topped with their signature chili and finished with shredded vegan cheddar, which completely satisfied my addiction. George got it rolled.

“The Giddyup”, bowled. . .

. . .and rolled.

We also munched on some “Summer of Love Rolls” ($6), a bunch of veggies and herbs wrapped in delicate rice paper with this peanut-coconut sauce that is so good you can eat it with a spoon.

“Summer of Love Rolls”

And with (nearly) every plate of something you get, they serve a small dollop of their “Happy Hempy Hummus”, which is to DIE for. YUM YUM YUM! Of course, you can just order a bowl of it and be very happy.

Once your stomach is full, nourished, and happy, take some time to check out the paintings for sale among the walls, peek into the other two social rooms of the house, or browse the big-ass bulletin board pinned with everything from yoga instruction to green cleaning services. There’s all kinds of funky trinkets about that’ll have you feeling the love.

Big-ass bulletin board.

I don’t know who Jennifer Wood is.

Dandelion Communitea Cafe is located at 618 N. Thornton Avenue very near downtown Orlando, and edging the Viet-town district. Check them out at http://dandelioncommunitea.com. If I didn’t live so far on another side of town, I’d make this place my second home!

<3, JMK

See more of these durian photos on Flickr!

When I went to my favorite Asian foods market today in Viet-town for young coconuts and bento boxes, I didn’t expect to find a whole barrel full of live, REAL, fresh durians! I’d finally come face to face with the elusive fruit I have only either heard of quite favorably from my raw friends or, what I’ve seen Andrew Zimmern almost puke over on his “Bizarre Foods” hit TV show on the Travel Channel. Very curious for a man who happily scarfs down on scorpions, roaches, monkey brains, and road kill!

My husband and daughter were happy to partake in the dissection of this 4.65 lb, $6.90, spiny, alien-like object (is that a good price?). God forbid if one of these things ever dropped on your head. And this one was one of the smaller of the bunch!

I think I had prepared myself for the worst, particularly on was I told regarding the smell. Well, it did release some funk that if I hadn’t known better I would have blamed my 13-year old for farting. But it seemed to be temporary. Mr. Tran from the market described them as being like a sweet, yet pungent, avocado. I’d say that’s the closest description you can possibly get for something that’s nearly impossible to describe. And the flesh looks like chopped up raw chicken parts!

The overall verdict? Absolutely different (duh) as if this thing came from some other planet. Not disgusting, but not fabulous. Just the few bites George and I had gave us durian burps for the next hour or so. Would I buy it again? Not quite yet. It’s definitely a taste-acquired thing and right now that quirky thing that has manifested into weird-food love for me is sea vegetables. My question is now, what do I do with the rest of it I’ve stored in the fridge? It would probably make an interesting layer to my morning shakes.

Any durian experiences, loves, likes, dislikes, and advice are welcome!

Adventures Nightmare of the Durian update (4/29): That creature took over my kitchen for 24 hours. Durians are mean and they stink. Maybe I’d have to be in Thailand someplace in the open air so that they can’t assault me if I ever try one again. Bad, bad durian! I don’t like you!

<3, JMK

With Garlicky Broccolini, Sweet Vidalia and Fennel Gratin, and Blueberry-Macadamia Rawscarpone Crumble.

That’s right, now you’ve heard it all! After last night’s success, I’ve decided to shoot for a weekly “TV Dinners Gone Raw” night, inspired by these cute compartmented plates I found on sale at Bloomingdale’s recently. You can’t deny the power of presentation, and raw food in a TV dinner format aroused even the pickiest eaters in my household! What’s better is that it makes for a smooth preparation, as theming calls for similar ingredients yet results in a complete, multi-course meal. Upon laying out every course within their respective partitions, I popped them into the warming drawer (you can also cautiously use oven on lowest setting) for about 15 minutes. Voila! The kids almost thought they were getting a real TV dinner classic!

Makes 5 servings then some:

“Spaghetti & Meatballs”:

• Spaghetti: 3.25 lbs. goldbar squash, slice lengthwise into wide thin strips with a vegetable peeler, then cut into noodle-like strips. Rest in bowl with light sprinkling of sea salt and pepper. Drain excess water, drizzle with olive oil and dehydrate 1 hour at 115 degrees.
• Meatballs: 1 cup of soaked walnuts plus 1.5 cups coarsely chopped cremini mushrooms marinated at least 1 hour with nama shoyu. In a food processor, blend together with 2 cloves garlic, thyme, oregano, crushed red pepper, flax seed oil, sea salt and pepper. With your hands create balls using about 1.5 tablespoons of mixture at a time, and dehydrate for 4 to 6 hours at 115 degrees.
• Marinara: 2 lbs. plum tomatoes, scooped & seeded, cut & quartered. Place in bowl & season well with sea salt, pepper, and 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme. Allow to sit for at least 2 hours, tossing occassionally, then draining liquid through a sieve. Add to food processor, along with 6 large olive oil marinated sun-dried tomatoes (not the dry-packaged). Add 1 large garlic clove, fresh basil leaves, more fresh thyme, dried oregano, crushed red pepper, sea salt & pepper to taste, and blend thoroughly to a marinara sauce consistency.

Garlicky Broccolini:

• 1 lb. broccolini, bottom third of stem removed, cut into bit sized pieces. Place in a bowl with 3 smashed large garlic cloves, tossing occasionally. Add enough sea salt & pepper to taste. Let sit for at least one hour. Add garlic-infused extra virgin olive oil and allow to sit at least another hour before removing cloves and dehydrating at 115 degrees for an hour.

Fennel & Sweet Vidalia Gratin:

• 1 medium sized vidalia onion, 1 medium sized fennel bulb finely sliced into half moons. Also include some fennel fronds for pretty specks of green. Place in bowl, sprinkle with sea salt and pepper, and allow to sit for at least 2 hours. Dehydrate at 115 degrees for one hour.
• Gratin: In a food processor, blitz 2 teaspoons sea salt with one large garlic clove. Add one cup soaked cashews, black pepper, and about 1/8-1/4 cup flax seed oil. Add only enough cold water to get creamy, smooth consistency. Finally, mix a few heaping tablespoons or as much to taste, to the vidalia and onions after dehydrating.

Blueberry-Macadamia Rawscarpone Crumble:

• 1.5 pints fresh blueberries, marinated for at least 2 hours with the gooey seeds of 1 vanilla bean, a squeeze of lemon juice, and a good squirt of agave nectar.
• Rawscarpone: 1 cup of soaked cashews, 1.5 tablespoons coconut butter, gooey seeds of 1 vanilla bean, good squirt of agave, and a pinch of sea salt. Blend very well to the smoothest consistency using drizzles of cold water if necessary.
• Macadamia crumble: 1 cup soaked macadamias, blended to medium to fine crumbly texture with 2 tablespoons vanilla-infused maple syrup and a pinch of sea salt. Dehydrate at 115 degrees for 3 hours.
• (Assembly) Spoon mixture into dish, pressing down to make a pie-like crust. Add a good dollop of the rawscarpone and spread evenly, add blueberries to cover, then finally add another small dollop of rawscarpone followed by a few more macadamia crumble.

<3, JMK

Julie’s Raw Ambition is officially proclaiming the role as Sea Vegetable Queen. . .the passionate voice of advocacy for that weird, squiggy, shriveled-up dark brownish leafy stuff found in plastic packages that read “Wakame”, “Wild Atlantic Kombu”, or “Laver” in the Asian section of your local Whole Foods or health food store. You know it as a superfood, you’ve read about it, seen it in its various forms for sale online at Sunfood Nutrition or One Lucky Duck. Many of us are most familiar with seaweed as nori, the paper thin version that wraps up our yummy maki rolls at the neighborhood sushi bar. Or maybe it’s the neon-green, artificially colored and preserved “seaweed salad” that’s mass packaged in ready-to-serve form, dolloped onto a little plate as a prelude to our maki rolls.

Unfortunately, those glowing green processed threads that look like they came from the planet Krypton is what first pops into many of our heads when someone mentions “seaweed salad”. Thank goodness there is a pure and Earthly world of sea vegetables available right under our noses that are not only magnitudes better for our bodies, they are absolutely, worlds-away more delicious!

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This is a delicious, simple salad that’s perfect to try if you’re just getting acclimated to sea vegetables. Wakame is soft and tender with a mild, sweet flavor. When I first served this to my family, it was gone in minutes after they once looked down at it cock-eyed because in no way does it resemble the artificially colored and processed seaweed salad you get at a typical sushi bar. Not only does this taste a hundred times better, it’s a hundred times better for you. Recipe follows…

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